The present invention relates to a battery holder assembly adapted to be mounted to an electronic device, e.g. a circuit board, and more particularly to a button battery holder assembly in which a button battery is so accommodated that its planar electrode surface is oriented substantially perpendicular to a general plane of the circuit board so that the holder occupies only a small area of the circuit board and the button battery can be held reliably in position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,912 issued to Katoh et al. on Feb. 23, 1993 discloses a button battery holder which is adapted to be mounted into an electronic equipment in a direction parallel to opposite electrode surfaces of a button battery and which can prevent the button battery from being incorrectly inserted into the holder under the condition that the positive and negative electrode surfaces of the button are incorrectly oriented. The holder comprises a top plate having an opening, a bottom plate having a recess, a closed rear end wall and an open front end portion forming a button battery insert opening for introducing the button battery in the direction parallel to the electrode surfaces of the button battery. With this construction, as the holder is mounted into the electronic equipment in the direction parallel to the electrode surfaces of the button battery, a battery holder insert hole and a battery holder mounting portion to be formed in the electronic equipment can be made small, thereby contributing to a reduction in size of the electronic equipment.
In the Katoh et al. patent, a positive terminal and two negative terminals are provided in the electronic equipment whereby when the holder is inserted into the holder insert hole the terminals are maintained in electrical contact with the button battery through the recess of the bottom plate and the opening of the top plate, respectively. As can be understood, the construction of the holder of the Katoh et al. patent does not permit it to be readily applied to a circuit board.
Moreover, it is desired that an electrical energy supplying device like the above-mentioned holder will occupy as small as possible an area of an electronic device or a printed circuit board. The present invention thus aims to provide a battery holder assembly occupying a small area in a novel manner different from the disclosure of the Katoh et al. patent.